College prep classes lift graduation rates

A recent editorial in the Union-Tribune expressed a concern that updating high school graduation requirements with more rigorous courses might somehow increase the dropout rate rather than actually help prepare students for college and career opportunities.

In fact, schools across the state and the country are finding that by making education more engaging, challenging and relevant, we can increase graduation rates and better prepare our young people for college and successful careers.

Dropout rates for our schools are far too high on the national, state and local levels. San Diego Unified has been addressing this problem by focusing on several programs that keep our students engaged and in school.

We share the vision articulated by retired Gen. Colin Powell and his wife Alma who have founded America’s Promise Alliance. America’s Promise teamed with Gallup to conduct a national survey of students. The poll showed that 37 percent of students do not feel actively engaged at school. These are the students who are most at-risk to drop out of school.

We also know that by 2020 an estimated 75 percent of jobs in California will require some postsecondary education and 37 percent of all jobs will require a bachelor’s degree. Currently, seven of 10 jobs in San Diego require some form of formal education beyond high school.

Public education must recognize this challenge and we must transform our schools into places where all students are engaged and feel their studies are important to their futures. Accordingly, our Board of Education has adopted a phase-in plan for all San Diego Unified high schools to offer a complete UC/CSU “a-g” sequence of the 15 courses needed for college admission. This will be enhanced by having our high schools also offer two or more career pathways aligned with California Industry Sectors including industry-standard courses.

San Diego Unified has made good progress in our efforts to make our schools more engaging and relevant through a more rigorous curriculum in our high schools. Today, 85 percent of all students are enrolled in three or more “a-g” courses and 92 percent of ninth-graders are enrolled in three or more “a-g” courses. Of large California urban districts, San Diego Unified is second (43 percent) only to San Francisco Unified (53.7 percent) in “a-g” completion rates with a “C” or better. We are seeing the percentage of “a-g” “completes” increasing steadily each year.

Despite our ongoing budget crisis, San Diego Unified is living up to our core mission, to prepare students for successful futures, by moving forward with these important upgrades to our graduation requirements. The new graduation requirements will align our curriculum with the UC/CSU-approved courses and add career readiness requirements such as pathways for engineering, multimedia productions, biotechnology, and automotive technology. These new expectations will add UC/CSU subject area requirements in world language and Algebra II. The board will consider an increase over time in credits required for graduation – from 44 to 48 (most districts require 46 to 48). That change would begin with the Class of 2015 or later.